"Paul Reeves left Southampton before his brother Elias came to Palmyra, going to a palce in Delaware County on the Delaware River, where he was employed as a raft builder. He left his work as a raft builder after the Long Island Colony had settled in Palmura, and traveling overland on foot with a 40 lb. pack, joined the colony in Palmra. There is an interesting story told of this jounrey while related how he on foot and another man on horseback made relatively teh same trip passing and repassing each other many times enroute. When they reached their common destination two or three days later they found Paul had made the journey on foot a day sooner than the man on horseback.

After a short stay in Palmyra, Paul returned to Delaware County, where he married Sarah Ware. He returned with his bride to East Palmyra area where he took a leading part in the early building of the settlements along Mud Creek, including schools, churches, saw and grist mills, roads, bridges, and homes. He build for Captain Galloway a saw mill which was the first built at East Palmyra. The old school house in District No. 3 was enlarged by him so it coul dbe used for church services. In 1803 he and a Gilbert Howell built and operated a saw mill and in 1804 a grist mill, at a dam near Newark.

Paul Reeves is said to have been minus his left thumb which was amputated after it was crushed. Reeves is reported to have done the amputation himself using an axe. He was at work raising a barn and was fitting a mortice in place of a heavy upright timmber when it slipped. After the amputation he wrapped it in a cloth and went back to work.

Paul Reeves had charge of the framing for the East Palmyra Presbyterian Church. It was the first frame in Western New York laid out by the square rule. It was raised on the Fourth of July, using 130 men for the operation. It is reported that every mortice, every tenon was perfect, every joint was square. It was raised without accident.

In 1816, he removed to Williamson, where he built and operated a saw mill and grist mill on the ridge one mile west of town. He and his wife are buried in the old graveyard in the east part of the Town of Williamson."

Family

CHR: Baptismal register of the,Amsterdam Oude Lutheran Kerke:Den dage der 3 Julius (1657 bij0 do Paulus Cordes. Pieter, Va. Pieter Carstense, moeder, gesije Jans,getu(ijgen) Annetje Jans.)Translation:(Baptized) this day July 3 (2657 by) Domine Paulus Cordes: Pieter, father: Pieter Carstensen, mother:Geesje Jans, witness: Annetje Jans)This would confirm that Geesje Jans gave birth to a child named Pieter Pietersen who would havebeen nearly four years old when the family emigrated to New Netherlands. Coupled with the origin ofPieter Carstensen at "Nortstrant" and that sons of Pieter Ostrander were at times designated VanNoortstrant, there is little doubt that this is Pieter Pietersen Ostrander. Source:Christopher A. Brooks, Parentage of Pieter Pietersen Ostrander and his Sister Tryntje Pieters (New YorkGenealogical and Biographical Record (July 1999) Edited article on Internet), P. 9.,

---

MAR: Kingston Reformed Dutch Church records: Pieter Pieterse, j.m. of Amsterdam and RebeccaTraphaghe, j.d. of Boswyck (Bushwyc, L. I.), both reside Westquansengh. Banns published three timesn the church. Christopher A. Brooks, Parentage of Pieter Pietersen Ostrander and his Sister TryntjePieters (New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (July 1999) Edited article on Internet), P. 9.,www.geocities.com/~cabrooks/ancestry.htm (OST HIS 001) P. 3.HIS: The records of the Court and Secretary at Kingston in Ulster County, where Pieter Pietersenostrander and Tryntje Pieters lived, were checked a few entried for a Pieter Pietersen were foundbetween 1665 and 1668. he was a man with financial problems having trouble making ends meet.However, in the Notrarial records at the Rijksarchief in Amsterdam provices an identify for this Pieter Pietersen:April 1, 1658 before Notary Jacobus Hellerus:Jan Jacobs, a bombazinworker, in the name of his son, Jacob Janss, who lives in Groot Esopus in New Netherland, takes for him into service, Pieter Pieterss, 17 years old, in order to work in agriculture there. This for 5 years, with free board, room and transportation there.

Jeremias was the Third Director, Fourth Patroon, and Second Lord of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck. On August 3, 1654, he sailed from Holland to join his older brother, Jan Baptist, at Rensselearwyck. He returned to Holland in 1655 but came back to Rensselaerwyck in the following year. Upon the return of Jan Baptist to Holland, Jeremias assumed full control of the estate.

Maria's funeral spoon was engraved "4 Jann, Ano 1688/9" and is in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

From American Ancestry, Columbia County:Jeremias Van Rensselaer came from Holland to America, and succeeded his brother, Jan Baptist, as "director of the colonie," 1658. He married July 12, 1662, Maria, dau. of Oloff Stevense Van Kortlandt, who died Jan. 29, 1689, leaving two sons, the eldest of whom, Kiliaan, was the first Lord of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, and the other, Hendrick, became first patroon of the "lower manor" of Claverack in Columbia county. From Kiliaan and Hendrick are descended the numerous members of the family in America; Jeremias, who died Oct. 12, 1674, was the son of Kiliaan Van Rensselaer, a merchant of Amsterdam, Holland, director of the Dutch West India Company of the Amsterdam chamber established in 1621, and who was sixth in descent from Henry Walters Van Rensselaer of Hemegseet, Holland, who does not appear to have ever visited America, but he is the progenitor of all the Van Rensselaers in the United States; he married 1st, Hillegonda Van Bylant, the mother of Johannes, who died without issue, 2nd, Anna Van Wely, by whom he had the following sons, Jeremias, above mentioned, Jan Baptist, the first of the family to visit the colonie, Nicolaas, the first Episcopal clergyman in Albany, and who preached in the Dutch church, 1675?1677, and was for a time director of Rensselaerswyck. Jan Baptist and Nicolaas died without male issue, Jeremias had two sons, Kiliaan and Hendrick. The crest of this historic family is an iron basket of flames, and the coat of arms the cross with the Dutch motto niemand zonder, no one without it, but some of the Albany family seem to have adopted the motto omnibus effulgemus, we shine for all. See Munsell's Collections; Munsell's Annals; O'Callaghan's History of New Netherlands.

From The Swartwout Chronicles:As the site of Fort Orange began to be regarded about this time [1650] by the Van Rensselaers as a part of Rensselaerswijck, some of their colonists erected dwellings around it. The knowledge of this false impression having reached Director-General Stuyvesant, the circumspect official concluded that it would be well to efface it. He therefore, in 1652, peremptorily ordered the colonists to transfer the buildings beyond the range of a ball fired from a cannon on the ramparts of the fort. As a consequence, an area of ground six hundred paces north of Fort Orange, bordering the river, became in April, that year, the seat of the village (dorp) of Beverswijck (Beaver-district), which name was changed twelve years later to that of Albany.

Family

Kiliaen was the First Patroon of Rensselaerwyck in New Netherlands. He was a minor at the death of his father and his guardians apprenticed him to his relative Wolfret Van Bijler, a diamond merchant, to be trained as a merchant. In those days the diamond trade was combined with trade in pearls, articles of luxury and rareties of every description coming from the far East through the Dutch India Company. The Dutch jewelers found a ready market for their valuable wares at the Imperial Court and smaller German Courts.

Johan Van Wely, a member of the Dutch East India Company, and a son of one of the sisters of Wolfret Van Bijler, controlled a diamond business no less important than his uncle Wolfret Van Bijler's. In 1614, Kiliaen was interested in bringing about a merger of the two firms. This was accomplished on 28 February 1614 under the name of Johan Van Wely and Company.

In 1616, Johan Van Wely was sent for by Prince Maurice to come to The Hague and bring with him some diamonds and other precious stones which the Prince wished to purchase. While awaiting the Prince, Van Wely was murdered and his body concealed under a table until it could be taken out and buried in an ashpit.

A few years after the assassination of Johan Wely the firm of Johan Van Wely and Company dissolved, Kiliaen carrying on the business under the name of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer and Company with Jacques L'Hermite as partner.

In 1609, Henry Hudson, returning from one of his western voyages, reported his discoveries of the rich resources of the valley of the Hudson river. The Dutch considered how best to develop this territory which they claimed as their own.

In 1612, their "High and Mighty Lords" the States General of Netherlands, "with the advice of the Prince of Orange", granted the Dutch West India Company a charter giving it exclusive possession and control of the great domain comprising the states of New York and New Jersey. The governing body was the College of XIX consisting of nineteen delegates from five chambers of managers located in five principal Dutch cities. The Amsterdam chamber furnished eight of the nineteen delegatesone of whom was Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. He was obliged to subscribe not less than 6,000 guilders to the company's capital.

After futile attempts at settlement of the new territory, the directors approved on 7 June 1629, a charter of Freedoms and Exemptions to "such participants of the said company as may be inclined to plant any colonies in the New Netherlands". On Monday the 19th of November, 1629, Kiliaen declared himself ready to send a colony to Fort Orange. In due time he controlled 24 miles north and south of Fort Orange and twelve miles back on either side of the river.

As early as 4 August 1632, Kiliaen wrote to his agent, Arent Van Cuyler that he was sending over a wooden model of a church and that the new church should be put on the east side of the river opposite Castle Island. He also stated that near the church there ought to be built a dwelling for the minister and one for the sexton. Rev. Johannes Megapolensis, the first minister of Rensselaerwyck, arrived in 1642 but owing to the failure of the builder to finish the house it was necessary to purchase another one for him. The house which Kiliaen had built was called "Crailo" after the Van Rensselaer estate in Holland. Some of the bricks bearing the date 1630, were made in Holland and sent over as ballast. They are very hard and of various shapes and a bright terra cotta color. A stone in the cellar wall bears the inscription "KVR 1642 Anno Domini". In 1886 an inscribed tablet was set into the cellar wall of the house reading: "Supposed to be the oldest building in the United States and to have been erected in the year 1642 as a manor house and place of defense known as "Fort Crailo". It was General Abercrombie's headquarters while [he was] marching to the attack at Fort Ticonderoga in 1758. It is said [that] at the cantonment east of the house near the old well, Richard Shuckbury composed the popular song "Yankee Doodle".

About 1615, Kiliaen caused to be placed over the leaden caskets of his father, Hendrick Van Rensselear and the latter's twin brother, Capt. Johan Van Rensselaer in the church at Nykerk an elaborate stone slab bearing the following Latin inscription: "Johan and Hendrick Van Rensselaer, twin brothers the former while he lived, captain of a company of foot soldiers and farmers, renowned for his great and many services to the republic and his country, perished at Deventer; the latter perished at Ostend at his own station holding his brave spirit to the last breath of life, having left to his descendants, his relations and connections great glory and a great longing for him. Although death overtook when performing deeds of prowess in places widely separated and remote, nevertheless Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, mindful of his filial duty to his much beloved parents and uncle has taken pains that both of his ancestors be laid to rest together under this monument". According to Kwartieren op de graftombe der Rensselaers te Nijerk Wapenheraut, 1918, pages 150, 151 the coats of arms shown on this stone are Van Rensselaer. Luxoel, Indijck, Hane(graeff), Van Wenckum, Schouten, Hell, Bylaer indicating marriages with these families.

This gravestone, which during a long period was partly hidden by a stair in the church was removed and placed in the wall next to the pulpit and at the head of the new graves of the two brothers. This was made possible by the generous contribution of Miss Florence Van Rensselaer who was asked by The Nethelands minister to America, Jonkeer van Haersma de With and the President of Netherlands Reformed Dutch Church, Herr de Graef, to unveil this stone. The unveiling took place 22 July 1938 amid a large gathering of State and Church dignitaries. Queen Wilhelmina was to have been represented by her Chancellor of State but he was called to Prague by reason of the impending war.

Source: The Van Rensselaers in Holland and America

Dictionary definition of "patroon": a person who held a large estate with manorial rights under a grant from the old Dutch governments of New York and New Jersey.

From Abstracts of Wills, vol. I, 1665?1707, in the collection of the The New York Historical Society, come this part if Kiliaen's will."In the name of God, Amen. Be it known to all men it may concerne, that in the year 168 6/7, on the 22 day of the month of February, about 12 of the clock at night, before me John Becker, Notary Publick, admitted by His Excelency, Thomas Dongan, Lieut. Gen., Governor, etc. Killian Van Rensselaer, Patroon of the Lordship and manor of Rensselaerwyck dwelling there at Watervliet, being sick on bed, but using and having his senses." He bequeaths his soul into the hands of God, and appoints his wife, Mrs. Anne Van Rensselaer, his executor, and his only and universal heir of all his goods and chattels, whether in this country or upon the sea, in Guilderland or elsewhere, without being obliged to give an account to the orphan masters or to his kindred. But his wife shall suffer his sister Nellie Maria, born at Newkirck, and now dwelling at Amsterdam, to have and enjoy one-half of the property, in which is included the Testator's part of the entailed estate lying beyond sea, in Guilderland. And also concerning the money that his father, deceased, hath disbursed for the Lordship and manor of Rensselaerwyck, upon which an award is made and confirmed by the Testator and Mr. Richard Van Rensselaer, and a true account is to be delivered to his sister, and his sister shall do the like to his wife, for the estate beyond sea in Netherlands. The land that is lying in the Lordship and manor of Rensselaerwyck, belonging to the Testator, shall be divided; and the part that has come to him by inheritance shall go to Hendrick Van Rensselaer, son of his uncle Jeremias Van Rensselaer, but one-half of the profits shall go to his wife for life. And of the lands he has by purchase, his sister is to have one-half the profits for life. If she die without issue, then to go to the children of Jeremias Van Rensselaer, son of John Baptist Van Rensellaer, and the children of Dr. Johanes Corlinus. The Testator's part of the ground or Toft of land in Klein Overshurst, being in the ampt, Van Bornvelt, ...

In The Annals of America, vol. I, 1493?1754, Discovering a New World, pp. 104?106, is an interesting article on the rights and privileges of patroons.

Family

AnnaRetta, born in Butler County OH, was about 14 when she moved with her parents to Green Co, IN about 1841, then to Andrew Co, MO about 1849. She married Hiram in Andrew Co, MO, and except for a short time across the Missouri River in Doniphan Co, KS in the late 1850s, they lived in Andrew County the rest of their lives. Hiram, whose parents were from Kentucky, was a plasterer or stone mason. They apparently never had children of their own, but in various censuses had some children living with them, including:B. W. HUGHES, 1860 census, Doniphan Co KSCharles ATKISON, 1860 (Doniphan Co KS) and 1870 (Andrew Co MO) censusesGertrude BAILY 1880 census, Andrew Co MO; Annaretta's cousinClara (ST CLEAR? or BAILY?), (1875-?) 1880 census, Andrew Co MO